Sleep Cures from Mother Nature

Dim the Lights at Night

"Your body is primed to sleep when it's dark," says Marcel Hungs, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at the University of California, Irvine. "I encourage patients to dine by candlelight and turn down the lights in their home starting around 7 or 8 p.m." Avoid surfing the Web or checking e-mail close to bedtime, because the glare from the computer screen can stimulate your brain instead of letting it slow down for slumber. And turn off the tube at least half an hour before you go to bed, adds Dr. Hungs. "Many people doze off with the TV on, only to find themselves wide awake later in the night," he says. "That's because the bright, flashing images and noises are mentally stimulating on a subconscious level." The better bedtime wind-down choice: read (something printed on paper, not an e-book).